San Diego Marina

As I am beginning to get more involved with my photography and developing my style, I figured a good way to do this would be to start a blog. Plus, now I can have a reason to go out and shoot more. :) 

Last night we flew into San Diego. I had only been to San Diego once before, but that was in the wintertime and so I can say that it is much nicer being here in the summertime. We were staying close to one of the harbors in the bay and decided to take a walk down there around sunset. Unfortunately, it was a little more 'industrial' than we thought it would be and the boats were no spectacle. It looked like lots of them were strictly fishing boats (no yachts to be found here). It was sunset so the sky made up for the lack of beauty in the boats.

As we were walking to see if one of the restaurants along the boardwalk looked appealing, I noticed one boat that was loaded up with probably 20 people set to go fishing. Apparently, it turned out to be a fishing trip where the boat would head out for a 36 hour trip into Mexican waters where they would be fishing for tuna. 

We ended up having dinner at a restaurant right on the water, which had beautiful views of the boats and the sunset. I was surprised at how warm it staying in the evening while we were eating. I have also noticed that the moon rises surprisingly early in Southern California and can even be seen in the mid afternoon. That made for a pretty blue sky and moonlit dinner outside. It had been awhile since I had eaten seafood by the ocean! This was shot with my new wide angle that I have been trying out and loving it! I was amazed at how I was able to fit everyone into the shot and didn't even need to scoot my chair back.

After dinner, my dad and I decided to head over to Coronado Island for a post-dinner photo shoot of downtown San Diego at night. I had seen photos of the skyline taken from Centennial Park and fell in love with the unique buildings that were featured. I am glad that I packed my tripod because without it there was not a chance that I was going to be able to grab a night shot of the skyline. Unfortunately, we missed the lovely blue hour, but there was still some slight blue that was left in the sky during my long exposure. I think my favorite building was the green, hexagon building-- it added a nice splash of color to the other buildings and loved how the buildings on each side of it helped to frame it. I think that I might be able to get into some more night photography. Out of the whole day, this was by far my favorite image that I shot.

While it was a long day of travel (first having to stop in Salt Lake City for a transfer), it was rewarding being in the warm, San Diego sun and having the opportunity to test out my new wide angle in a different environment. Can't wait to see what the rest of the trip has in store!